Well damn, I thought it was only the ladies that thought I was a God. LOL:lmao:

Been building cars like most of us here, since I was 16. Have enjoyed most of the builds, and kind of back off when it ceases to be fun. Some days I
wish I'd taken up golf, but I'll have to settle for being a massive stud, and hobby car builder.LOL

Being a tinker-er, or one that partakes in "tinkering", I enjoy/respect/like seeing the ingenuity involved in do-it-yourself garage-type builds.

When I was a kid, I got into paintball pretty hardcore. But I was poor. My friends were poor. We had poor-people equipment. Brass Eagle plastic cheap inefficient markers were our standard, with run-of-the-mill base model Spyders or Tippmanns being our "nice" markers.

For anyone who doesn't paintball, base model Spyders and Tippmanns are field rental markers, they aren't good at anything except not breaking. Reliability being their only strong point, they waste gas, chop paint, are inaccurate and inconsistent.

Anyways, I joined a forum dedicated to Brass Eagle enthusiasts, back when the internet was born (in an age of dot-matrix printers and floppy disks and aol). I learned to dremel the everlasting p!ss out of my plastic markers, modifying cheap and generic markers with ace hardware parts and hose clamps and 2-ton epoxy.

I made my all $30 plastic mechanical semi-auto StingrayII outclass electro-pneumatic billet aluminum E-grip fully automatic $1400 Angels.

And you are d@mn right that I was d@mn proud knowing that I built my marker at 4am with a dremel and some JB weld.

All that being said, I think built not bought is a race track thing, not a car show thing. Beating the latest and greatest BMW or Porsche in a POS F-body that you built with your dad or son or friends in your garage for a fraction of what said BMW/Porsche costs is something to be proud of.

At a car show, if it looks nice, it doesn't matter who or how it was built. But car shows don't matter. The race track, or more specifically the results from the race track, are what matters. Oh, and if you're having fun, and all that hippie jazz about butterflies and bunnies and enjoying life, or whatever.

Built not bought
 

I feel that if you spend the time to build it you know
what your really have.. I don't know how many times
someone says it has this much hp etc but could not
tell you any of the parts inside....I have let my cars
slowly change so I can keep driving them.. it also lets
me know what works and what does not

Even when I have people over helping I have a
hard time not doing it all myself.. my buddies say
I need to go to a meeting:)

That being said I don't weld yet or do any paint work
Just not there yet.. maybe some day
I do respect someone that has them built but spends
a lot of time with the planning and build... I just have
an issue with checkbook no nothings... but that's just me

Bob

Bob, I think that "meeting" takes place at the racetrack.

I'm on the verge of completely starting over again on the Falcon. The Falcon basically exists for the purchase of my first welder (about four years ago)--which has gone okay for the most part, but not without a ton of frustration. I'd wanted to try welding for about 15 years or so before I did. Just trying provided a huge sense of freedom in doing the hotrod thing (as do YouTube videos).

Part of the Falcon's impending clean slate (90% sure it's happening) will include finally buying a good welder, instead of the Eastwood P.O.S. MIG I've been futzing (learning) with for the last few years. I guess I'm into process...

That said, I'll never make anything as nice as your Pantera. I just carry too much dirt around...

Part of it is, I don't trust people. So I like to do things myself. That way I know the quality of assembly, the parts used, the fit and finish of the finished product is my success or failure, and its degree of success or failure is my fault and mine alone.

However, there are things I just cannot do as well as the people who do just that. Porting heads, for example. I don't have a problem taking the dremel to a set of factory heads, just to clean up ports or do some gasket matching... but I'm not going to try my hand at "touching up" some AFR's or Trick Flows. Plus, me not knowing what I am doing, and not being in a position in my life that I could equip myself with the proper tools to test if what I am doing is actually beneficial, I would probably do more harm than good.

But I am not afraid to build my own frame or wiring harness. Body work and sheetmetal aren't my strong point, but I will try to do it myself when I get to that point. If I mess it up, whatever, it's just metal, it can be fixed or replaced by someone better than me.

Suspension design is something that I am going to leave to the professionals who excell in that field... and by "the professionals" I of course mean THE professional who excels in that field, Mr. Ron Sutton. I like to go fast, and if I try design my own suspension and don't get it right, I have created an unnecessary dangerous situation for everybody around me, and that's not something that I am willing to do.

:lmao:

Build or bought
 

Rustomatic I am going to go down
that welding path soon. I agree that doing
it yourself gives you a sense of satisfaction
and also freedom. I also have the trust issue but
cannot do some things that well I never did
brakes until recently ( figured that was a safety
thing I did not want to screw up).
Messed that up before thunderhill but fixed it later

Pantera was way over board but I still beat on it
Firebird was a rust bucket that I brought back to life
and a car I will never sell. I have to work on it more
to try to get it like the Pantera but that challenge
is what makes it fun

Bob

The Firebird I have now, I have bought "finished" or should I say driveable. There was and still is a ton of stuff to either redo, fix or change out... Some of it because of poor solutions.. But I knew that when I bought it, it was a good buy, even though the lists grows everytime I use or wrench on it..

But because most of the "big stuff" is done, or atleast bought and mounted by the previous owner, I still dont have the feel that this is "my car" since I have not done it myself, I am more or less stuck sorting it out, and fixing the errors, not buidling it.

It lacks a bit of that personal feeling,
for the moment it is "just a car" not "my car".

Bought or built
 

I had a mustang for a while that was done
Or I thought. I tweaked a few things but I
also felt like it was not really my car

I have had my firebird for over 27 years now
and it is truly my car even more so than my Pantera
I am changing some things on it now for the second
or even the third time. My old trusty 4 row radiator
is finally getting replaced with a new alum 2 row and a
pair of sucker fans. It has served me well but it is old
and tired and cannot keep up with the new high hp Motor

Bob

I'm with David. I'll attempt most anything but leave the safety sensitive items to the pro's.

I find some crap isn't always worth the time and effort, but I prefer to have it done the exact way I want it. I can find and fix other issues that could be near by. I can pin point every rattle squeak and tap because I've been there... top to bottom.